Continuous fringe for making hairpieces or the like

ABSTRACT

In a process for making continuous fringes for the manufacture of wigs or hairpieces, lengths of a fed filament are secured to a support filament by repeatedly performing a cycle in which the fed filament is formed into a slip knot providing two eyelets, through which the support filament is passed. The filament strands are pulled and cut to length after the slip knot has been tightened. The slip knots are formed by passing a length of the fed filament over two spaced apart fingers which are rotated in their center plane to form loops around the fingers, the fingers then being brought together to form two adjacent eyelets of the slip knot.

United States Patent 1 dAtabekian 5]March 20, 1973 [54] CONTINUOUS FRINGE FOR MAKING HAIRPIECES OR THE LIKE Michel dAtabekian, 28, rue des Tanneries, Paris, France 221 Filed: May 10, 971

21 Appl.No.: 141,590

[76] Inventor:

[30] Foreign Application Priority Data May 21, 1971 France 7018483 [52] U.S. Cl ..289/1.5 [51] ..B65h 69/04 [58] Field of Search ..28/15;289/1.2, 1.5

[56] References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS Mascarenhas ..289/1.2 Rosen ..28/15 3,415,558 12/1968 Holzknecht ..289/1.5

Primary Examiner-Louis K. Rimrodt Att0rneyBreitenfe1d & Levine [57] ABSTRACT In a process for making continuous fringes for the manufacture of wigs or hairpieces, lengths of a fed filament are secured to a support filament by repeatedly performing a cycle in which the fed filament is formed into a slip knot providing two eyelets, through which the support filament is passed. The filament strands are pulled and cut to length after the slip knot has been tightened. The slip knots are formed by passing a length of the fed filament over two spaced apart fingers which are rotated in their center plane to form loops around the fingers, the fingers then being brought together to form two adjacent eyelets of the slip knot.

3 Claims, 5 Drawing Figures CONTINUOUS FRINGE FOR MAKING HAIRPIECES OR THE LIKE This invention relates to continuous fringes such as are used, for example in the manufacture of wigs.

A conventional process for making continuous fringes, to be used for example for wig making, is to start from filaments or hairs of predetermined length, the filaments or hairs being grouped to form bunches or strands. The strands are pushed one behind another under the presser foot of a sewing machine, the strands being maintained perpendicular to the direction of the seam. About 2 cm of the fringe is left to extend beyond the seam and this projecting part is folded over with a second seam. The edge is then rolled to strengthen the fringe by a third seam.

This conventional process has a number of disadvantages ineluding the thickness of the fringe produced, the height of the seams, which requires a large amount of material, and particularly the disadvantage that the process is difficult to carry out automatically by machine.

It is an object of one aspect of the invention to provide a continuous fringe whose backing or support is very fine and whose strands hold strongly.

According to this aspect of the invention there is provided apparatus for making a continuous fringe from a continuous support or backing filament and a continuous fed filament, which apparatus comprises means for supplying a continuous support or backing filament, means for supplying a continuous fed filament, two fingers which form a pivoted fork and which can pivot in their center plane to form a loop on each of the fingers with the fed filament, after the latter has been placed over said fingers, means for passing the support filament between the loops of fed filament, and adjustable cutting means for cutting the fed filament to the required length. it

It is an object of another aspect of the invention to provide a manufacturing process for making a continuous fringe which process can be carried out completely automatically.

According to this aspect of the invention there is provided a process for making a continuous fringe from a continuous support or backing filament and a continuous fed filament, which process consists in repeatedly performing a cycle which comprises the phases of holding a support or backing filament in an extended condition, forming at least one eyelet with a fed filament, passing the support filament through said eyelet of fed filament, tightening the fed filament to close said eyelet around the support filament and cutting the fed filament to form strands.

Preferably, the two mainly open eyelets are produced by two fingers adapted to move away from and towards one another, the fed filament being first placed on the fingers, whereafter the same are rotated to form two loops, then moved towards one another to bring the two loops towards one another to form two eyelets.

The term filament" as used herein is to be understood as denoting a filament having one or more strands and possibly providing a number of strands of the continuous fringe.

The following description and the accompanying drawings, all of which are given by way of non-limitative example, will give a better idea of other features and advantages of the invention.

In the accompanying drawings:

FIG. 1 shows diagrammatically a fringe produced by a prior art process;

FIG. 2 is a diagrammatic view showing how the process according to the invention can be practised, and

FIGS. 3 to 5 are diagrammatic views of three consecutive phases in the process illustrated in FIG. 2.

In the conventional process to which FIG. 1 relates, filaments or hairs of predetermined length are grouped to form bunches or strands 10. The strands 10 are pushed one behind another under the presser foot of a sewing machine, the strands being maintained perpendicular to the direction of the seam 12 formed by the machine. About 2 cm of the fringes is left to extend beyond the seam 12 and the projecting part is folded over and secured by a second seam 14. The edge is then rolled to strengthen the fringe by a third seam. The disadvantages of this method have been explained previously.

REferring to FIG. 2 a support or backing filament 18 is wound on a small spool 20 for a purpose which will become apparent hereinafter. A fed filament 22 is presented continuously from a reel 23. In the embodiment of the invention to be described with reference to FIGS. 2 to 5, use is made of a fork including fingers 24 and 26, part of which can be seen in FIG. 2. Referring to FIGS. 3 to 5 the two fingers 24 and 26 are each connected at one end to the other by a pivot 28, the other ends of the fingers being free. The two fingers lie substantially in a common plane and can pivot with respect to each other in this common plane about the pivot 28. The fingers are symmetical with respect to each other about a plane, herein termed the central plane, which is perpendicular to said first mentioned plane and passes through the pivot 28 and mid way between the fingers 24 and 26. Each of the fingers 24 and 26 includes a portion adjacent the pivot 28 which is convex outwardly with respect to said central plane and a portion adjacent the free end of the finger which is concave outwardly with respect to said central plane.

In carrying out the fringe forming method, with the fingers pivoted into a spaced apart position, the filament 22 is passed over the fingers as shown in FIG. 3, the filament forming a U shape with the base of the U extending between the fingers and the arms of the U extending perpendicularly downwards with respect to the base of the U. It will be noted that in this position the free ends of the fingers are spaced apart by a distance greater than the spacing between the arms of the U. The fork is now pivoted through in said central plane, about an axis parallel to the base of the U into the position shown in FIG. 4, in which a loop 30 and 32 of fed filament extend around fingers 24 and 26 respectively. The two fingers 24, 26 and then moved towards one another by pivoting around their pivot 28. During this movement the loops 30, 32 move towards one another at the finger ends to form two eyelets in substantially parallel planes. The spool 20 is then passed through the two eyelets to introduce the support or backing filament 18, the fingers 24, 26 are separated and returned to their initial position whereafter the two strands of fed filament are pulled to tighten the eyelets on the support filament in a slip knot, whereafter the fed filament is cut to give strands of the required length, by means of a knife 34 whose position is adjustable.

Of course, the device according to the invention includes facilities (not shown) for distributing and tensioning the fed filament. Preferably, the support filament has a high rupturing strength and is fairly rough, so that the knots do not slip and open. The fed filament advantageously comprises a plurality of strands, thus increasing output.

The strands are secured to the support filament over a very short length, with a consequent appreciable saving of material, a factor further improved by the fineness of hair which can be used. The product is therefore very light.

Strand length can be adjusted at any time to provide a fringe having required characteristics. Also, the strands are secured very tightly, for any pull applied to them tightens the knot and thus secures the strand even more tightly than before.

Continuous filaments of any kind of material, more particularly synthetic materials, can be used; for instance, the support filament can be a twisted sewing thread in superpolyamide Nylon or Tergal and the fed filament can be a synthetic yarn which has already been looped.

Another and particularly important advantage of the invention is that all the phases of the process can readily be performed by automatic equipment.

The invention is not of course limited to the embodiment described but covers all such variants and modifications as lie within the scope of the skilled addressee.

I claim:

1. A process for making a continuous fringe from a continuous support or backing filament and a continu ous fed filament, which process consists in repeatedly performing a cycle which comprises the phases of holding a support or backing filament in an extended condition, forming two eyelets with the fed filament, passing the support filament through said eyelets of the fed filament, tightening the fed filament to close said eyelet around the support filament and cutting the fed filament to form strands.

2. The process of claim 1, in which said eyelet forming phase includes the steps of placing the fed filament over two spaced apart articulated fingers, subsequently rotating the fingers to form two loops, one loop being disposed on each finger, and thereafter moving the fingers towards one another to bring the two loops towards one another to form two eyelets.

3. The process of claim 1, in which said eyelet forming phase is performed by means including a fork having two relatively articulated fingers which are movable towards and away from each other, said eyelet forming phase including the steps of placing the fed filament over the fingers of said fork, in a generally U shaped formation with said fingers spaced apart, the base of the U being formed by the portion of the filament extending between said fingers, subsequently rotating the fork about an axis parallel with the base of said U to form a loop around each of said fingers, and subsequently bringing the fingers towards one another to form two eyelets. 

1. A process for making a continuous fringe from a continuous support or backing filament and a continuous fed filament, which process consists in repeatedly performing a cycle which comprises the phases of holding a support or backing filament in an extended condition, forming two eyelets with the fed filament, passing the support filament through said eyelets of the fed filament, tightening the fed filament to close said eyelet around the support filament and cutting the fed filament to form strands.
 2. The process of claim 1, in which said eyelet forming phase includes the steps of placing the fed filament over two spaced apart articulated fingers, subsequently rotating the fingers to form two loops, one loop being disposed on each finger, and thereafter moving the fingers towards one another to bring the two loops towards one another to form two eyelets.
 3. The process of claim 1, in which said eyelet forming phase is performed by means including a fork having two relatively articulated fingers which are movable towards and away from each other, said eyelet forming phase including the steps of placing the fed filament over the fingers of said fork, in a generally ''U'' shaped formation with said fingers spaced apart, the base of the ''U'' being formed by the portion of the filament extending between said fingers, subsequently rotating the fork about an axis parallel with the base of said ''U'' to form a loop around each of said fingers, and subsequently bringing the fingers towards one another to form two eyelets. 